“Could this guy be a great mayor? Yeah, absolutely. He’s got all the talents,” Giuliani said.

Lhota was at Giuliani’s side after 9/11 as first deputy mayor.

“He was with me for 40 straight days, 24 hours a day. So I saw him under pressure. He handled September 11th heroically, so it wasn’t a big surprise to me to see how well he handled Sandy with the MTA,” Giuliani said.

Lhota has been widely applauded for restoring most of the subway system after Hurricane Sandy, but he also has extensive experience in business, banking and city government. He is also the son of an NYPD lieutenant.